FULL FRAGMENTS OF SUN (Litha & Effy Efthymiou) London 2012 Susan Parkes, Susanna Fairbairn

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: FRAGMENTS OF SUN  
• Composer: Litha & Effy Efthymiou  
• Libretto: James Hogg    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: London, UK  
• Recorded: August 12, 2012
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Susan Parkes, Susanna Fairbairn, Michael Anthony Brown, Katie Pattinson
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra: Instrumental Ensemble  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: tete a tete  
• Date Published: 2012  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  Incest and murder threaten Nero’s rule over Rome. But can his portrayal of his beloved heroes, Oedipus, Apollo and Hercules, help him to coerce the citizens of Rome into accepting that his acts are connected to godliness and power? From beyond the grave, through multimedia installations, his wife and mother try to persuade us otherwise.

   

  Fragments of Sun is a multidisciplinary opera about the life and crimes of Nero, incorporating music, dance, theatre and live film.

  The rule of Nero, Emperor of Rome, was, to most historians, associated with tyranny and violence. His evil crimes and acts of debauchery included incest, murder, kicking his pregnant wife to death and ‘fiddling’ while Rome burned. What is interesting, however, is that, despite the gravity of these crimes, Nero managed to fully justify his acts and, at the same time, gain increasing popularity among his people by comparing his crimes to those of famous mythological gods – the then ‘celebrities’ of the ancient world. By presenting himself (in important speeches, through his dress, on coinage, and through theatre and circus) as his beloved heroes, Oedipus, Apollo, Orestas and Hercules, Nero managed to coerce the citizens of Rome into accepting that his acts were connected to royalty, godliness and power.

  The opera explores Nero’s crimes from the perspectives of the two closest women in his life, Agrippina (his mother) and Poppea (his wife) . These women’s stories are told from ‘beyond the grave’ as a retrospective dialogue, communicating their bitter experiences after their brutal murders.

  (Visited 15 times, 1 visits today)